Palma Violets, London

Inherited wealth can take a cultural as well as a financial form, and it's a leg-up from which Palma Violets have benefitted enormously. A London band of floppy fringes and fairly rudimentary ability, by the sheer fortune of having been picked up by Rough Trade, they're endowed with a great deal of instant kudos. The label signed the Strokes and the Libertines, and they wouldn't just sign any old rubbish, would they? Live, the band are a bit of a dog's dinner, but if you peer long enough at their debut single Best Of Friends (lately voted NME's Track Of The Year), Sam Fryer and Chilli Jesson's band seem to know how to write a decent, passionate rock song in the vein of their label forebears, even if their charms are well-hidden at first.

Boston Arms, N19, Thu

John Robinson

Guide To Strange Places, Leeds & London

Contemporary works have become much more regular features of the National Youth Orchestra's programmes in recent years. The latest of them, conducted by John Wilson, features a major work by John Adams, Guide To Strange Places. It begins a programme that also includes the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, and Holst's suite The Planets. First performed in 2001, Strange Places is one of Adams's most impressive orchestral scores and like so much of his finest music it references a wide range of 20th-century models, from Stravinsky right through to the minimalists. It fuses all those stylistic voices into something that is unique and personal.

Town Hall, Leeds, Sat; Barbican Hall, EC2, Sun

Andrew Clements

Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein & Bill Stewart Trio, London

Massachusetts Hammond organist Larry Goldings specialises in an instrument with big cliche potential. Though Goldings can get in the groove with the best of them, he isn't interested in just mimicking the hits of Hammond pioneers such as Jimmy Smith. This trio, with guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart, first emerged in the late 90s. They made a string of fine albums for the Palmetto label, with Goldings and Bernstein genuinely conversing rather than simply tailchasing each other's solos. Stewart, a drummer who conveys drama without histrionics, has demonstrated these skills for years in bands led by John Scofield and Joe Lovano. Goldings has also made some significant contributions to Madeleine Peyroux's music, while Bernstein has worked with a raft of stars including Diana Krall and Joshua Redman.

Ronnie Scott's, W1, Wed & Thu

John Fordham

Gary Barlow, On tour

Gary Barlow's current role as X Factor judge is a far cry from his days as a boy genius composing songs for Take That, but you get the feeling that his hare and tortoise race with Robbie Williams has paid off better than he might ever have hoped. Not only did the prodigal son return, the success of the Take That reunion has endowed Barlow with a stamp of absurd authority.

Compassionate Dictatorship, Bristol

Compassionate or otherwise, this quartet jointly led by guitarist Jez Franks and saxophonist Tori Freestone exhibit few dictatorial tendencies in the leisurely ease with which they unwind long-spun melody lines. Franks and Freestone began performing and composing together in 1993, the former being a Leeds College guitar prize-winner, and the latter a saxist, flautist and violinist who performed with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, American country star Lee Hazlewood, and the Cuban group Orquesta Timbala. Here they feature the powerful rhythm section of Jasper Høiby on bass and Ben Reynolds on drums. The latter's compact, busy drumming, and the former's big, full-toned bass presence power a distinctive approach to the group's songs.

The Be-Bop Club, Fri

JF

The Sword, On tour

Metal is all about belief. Certainly, when your mode routinely employs science fiction concept albums and double-tracked guitars, belief may well be what you need in a post-Spinal Tap world. With The Sword, a Texan band who formed in 2003 but may as well have met in a British industrial city at any point between 1969 and 1979, it feels more like they are sustained by this splendid isolation. The notion that what they're up to is in any way bizarre has simply never entered their heads. It's snakes, it's cloaks, it's a song called Eyes Of The Stormwitch; and, really, the joke's on you if you miss out.